Ubuntu & Microsoft: NO DEAL!

Sounds as if the Ubuntu founders either think Microsoft is bluffing with the threat of patent infringements or could be they are not falling for Microsoft’s patent protection deal (blackmail) .

Novell, Xandros, Linspire … and Ubuntu? Nope, it’s not gonna happen, says Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of the popular Linux distribution, debunking rumors that Ubuntu will be the next to agree to a patent protection deal with Microsoft.

“Allegations of ‘infringement of unspecified patents’ carry no weight whatsoever. We don’t think they have any legal merit, and they are no incentive for us to work with Microsoft on any of the wonderful things we could do together. A promise by Microsoft not to sue for infringement of unspecified patents has no value at all and is not worth paying for. It does not protect users from the real risk of a patent suit from a pure-IP-holder (Microsoft itself is regularly found to violate such patents and regularly settles such suits). People who pay protection money for that promise are likely living in a false sense of security.”